5 Tips for a Successful Skype interview

5 Tips for a Successful Skype interview

In the Mobile Commerce marketplace, a job interview via Skype is the normality. A successful one, isn’t. Neomobile is an international company, settled in 14 offices around the world and working with partners worldwide, so our HR team deals with this type of interactions every day, saving time of transporting candidates, and reducing the gap between different time zones. On the candidate’s side, remote interviews are harder to prepare for than in-person ones, so we asked our HR partners to share their suggestions to make it easier. These are All tested tips from real-life job interviews, of course.

Connectivity

A weak connection or an interference are very common, so first of all make sure you’ll have a stable connection (no wi-fi!). Test your video and sound, because headphones and microphone must run efficiently, and if you have some tech problems, communicate them to the recruiter immediately.

Finally, close other programs on your computer: getting Facebook notifications during your interview doesn’t make you look to great. Apart from being a distraction, it may damage your professional profile!

Place

Make sure your surrounding is quiet. Avoid interruptions by people that could be near you: make sure beforehand that they know this will be an important moment so they don’t interfere by chance. No TV, radios or busy things around you, no cats and dogs popping up and no simultaneous interpreters to your side in your support! Recruiters have eyes and ears too. Choose a white or neutral background so you can be the focus of the interview: your room could be a good place but be aware of what is behind you and tidy it up before starting the interview.

Online presence

Pay attention to your personal account, every detail reveals something about you! Use a professional profile picture as well as an appropriate Skype username, or create your professional Skype account as an alternative: leave that smiley you with a vodka lemon in your hand for your informal account! Then, we suggest that you to choose a sober outfit for the occasion, just to be coherent both online and offline and stay in the part of a candidate.

Conversation

Be synthetic and exhaustive, have a straight-to-the-point attitude. Speak in a clear and articulated way with clear phrases without losing the ‘naturalness’ of the conversation. Limit the jokes because humor is not universal and you could be easily misunderstood. Then, adapting the conversation to your speaker and to the quality of the call is always a good solution. Get informed about the company and the job you applied to, and don’t be afraid to help yourself with notes or a copy of your resume on your desk: remember to ask questions about the company – show your curiosity about it!

Standing

Take care of every aspect regarding the standing, just like a common interview. Body language is a big indicator of your energy and non-verbal communication gives recruiters clues about you: you can really judge a book by its cover! So stare at the camera (not at non-identified objects around or behind the screen), sit forward during the chat, no sipped drinks, and head in your hands forbidden – are you interested in the conversation or not? Finally, remember that a Skype interview gives you less time to make a positive impression, so you need to get the most out of it.

Did you consider all these aspects during your interview? Share your experience with us!